sap smart forms - form printing in the internet age آ¤sap deutschland ag & co. kg 2001 / 3 sap...

SAP Smart Forms - Form Printing in the Internet Age

Jens Stumpe Christoph Wachter GBU AI SAP AG

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 2

SAP Smart Forms: Output to Printer or Browser

State-of-the-art form printing

Enjoyable graphical user interface

No programming skills required

Minimal implementation costs

Internet applications using Interactive Webforms

XSF: XML for Smart Forms

Solutions and scenarios

IS-Healthcare: Insurance verification processing

Converge, Inc.: XML data exchange using XSF

Internet Marketing: Personalized e-mails

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 3

SAP Smart Forms – SAP´s Form Printing Solution

Users can easily create/adjust forms: Minimal implementation costs

Enjoyable graphical user interface: No programming skills required

Interactive Webforms based on generated XML output (XSF, Basis Release 4.6C; HTML+XSF, SAP Web AS 6.10)

Smart Forms are delivered for various central business processes (starting with CRM 2.0; BBP; SD, FI, HR 4.6C)

Migration of SAPscript forms supported

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 4

SAP Smart Forms - Architecture

Smart Form

Data retrieval Form logic Output device

Application program

Database

ABAP Function module

(generated)

Web Browser

Printer

Fax

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 5

Form Builder

Navigation tree Attributes(of selected node) Form Painter

Selected node

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 6

Control Flow and Conditions

Control flow Nodes with condition(s)

are marked

Condition must be met before node is processed

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 7

Window Types

Windows are output areas on your design page

Various window types Main window: For continuous output (e.g. table output) Secondary window: For output with a fixed length Final window: Special secondary window for output of information that is not available until the end of form processing (as of SAP Web AS 6.10, for older releases see SAPnet note 359009) Copies window: Special secondary window for marking pages as copy or original (as of SAP Web AS 6.10)

Additional output areas Graphic node Address node

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 8

Graphical Form Painter - Overview

Personal settings zooming grid ruler etc.

Toolbar

Drag&Drop

Windows for text and graphics

Ruler with size of selected window

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 9

Graphical Form Painter - Design Area

Design support Two-level grid Window position Cursor position with gridlines Autozooming Background display

Changing windows Drag & drop Snap to grid Autoscrolling

Context menu

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 10

Texts and Fields - Concepts

For text output a text node is used

Three text types Text elements (locally in form) Text modules (for reusing texts) Include texts (for including SAPscript texts)

No commands in text nodes Besides text only fields are allowed SAPscript commands in Include texts are ignored

Fields are global variables of a form Interface parameters: Data transferred from application program Global data: Additionally required variables (e.g. for work areas) System fields: For special purposes (e.g. date, page number)

Fields can be used in text nodes and to set attributes dynamically

For example, to decide dynamically which graphic to include

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 11

Texts and Fields - Field list and Inline Editor

Field list

Drag&Drop

Paragraph and character formats

Belong to a Smart Style System displays only available formats of current style (corporate identity) Each Smart Form must have one global style Global style can be overwritten by local style

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 12

Table Output - Graphical Table Painter

For the design of tables and templates

Similar handling to Form Painter

Snap to grid Autozooming Context menu Ruler Personalization

Boxes and shading (6.10) for line types

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 13

Table Output - Content

Convenient table processing

Headers and footers Sorting Display output (e.g. subtotals) after sort levels

Automatic calculations (as of 6.10)

Totals, average, number

Loop through internal table = Loop through main area

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 14

Local and Global Checks

List of error messages with navigation to corresponding node

Check if fields exist

Warnings for fields that might have no value

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 15

Localization Address node (use of Business Address Services) Currency relations drawn from ABAP Dictionary

Page breaks Automatic page breaks in main window Protection against automatic page break possible Dynamic page breaks by using command node

Additional new features as of SAP Web AS 6.10: Undo/Redo of actions Upload/Download using XML Copy of form subtrees between forms in one system

Other Features

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 16

Form Printing using SAP Smart Forms

Many customers use SAP Smart Forms for their productive form printing in central business processes (starting with CRM 2.0; BBP; SD, FI, HR 4.6C)

You may ask for assistance (from SAP or partners) in a joint project

Your favorite form layout and form logic is done by yourself

If you specify your form data (interface), SAP can implement the necessary data retrieval program in that project (please contact your local SAP representative)

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 17

Smart Forms: Interactive Webforms

XSF: XML for Smart Forms

Data stream: XSF

Interactive Webforms based on generated XML output (XSF, Basis Release 4.6C; HTML+XSF, SAP Web AS 6.10)

Solutions and scenarios

IS-Healthcare: Insurance verification processing

Converge, Inc.: XML data exchange using XSF

Internet Marketing: Personalized e-mails

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 18

Interactive Web Forms: History

XSF (XML for Smart Forms) Available as of Basis Release 4.6C

XML data stream (as of SAP Web AS 6.10 using iXML)

Same purpose as RDI (Raw Data Interface): Provide an interface for third party tools

Content, no layout

Interactive Web Forms Output device: Browser

Layout: HTML+CSS (as of SAP Web AS 6.10 XSF is transformed to HTML using XSLT on the server side)

Layout may be changed offline

Use output format PDF when a displayed document is to be identical to a printed version

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 19

Interactive Webforms: Properties

Text and data fields may be used as entry fields

Offline data entry using HTML input fields (text, hidden, submit, reset, checkbox, radio button, list box, text area)

Webforms are embedded in Internet applications, e.g., in BSP applications

Data entered can be processed on next BSP page

Several scenarios for offline changes

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 20

Interactive Webforms: Use Fields as Input Fields

You can designate fields used in text nodes as input fields easily by assigning an input type and additional web properties

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 21

mySAP Web Application Server

HTTP port Internet

SAP Web Application Server

BSP application

BSP Page 1

BSP Page 2

BSP Page 3

Database

Firewall

R/3 System R/3 System

RFC, BAPI, IDOC

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 22

Interactive Webforms: Call Webform Using a BSP Page

SAP Web

Application Server

1Call BSP page (HTTP request)

Send Interactive Webform (HTTP response)

BSP application

BSP runtime

environment

Eventhandler OnInitialization

Response object

Smart Form

6

2 3

4

5

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 23

IS-Healthcare: Insurance Verification Processing

Health insurance fund

Hospital

HTML form data 1

2

3

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 24

IS-Healthcare: Benefits for Partner

Benefits for hospital and health insurance fund

Effort for approving an insurance verification request is minimal Data of XML forms can be stored in health insurance fund’s computer system Low administration effort in comparison to automatic processing using EDI

SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG 2001 / 25

Converge: Solution Description

Send invoices created in SAP system to Chase Manhattan Bank in order to display these invoices for customers on the Web

Sales Invoices created once a month with ‘Collective Invoicing’

An automatic creation of invoices for all auctions that are due to be invoiced